First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
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The feasibility of using a solar power generator
system in Kurdistan: Koya city as a case study
Hayder H. Abbas
Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Koya University, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Abstract
The first worldwide concern is “global warming” which has increased rapidly,
due to many factors; the most important is dependency on a fossil fuel to feed the
demand for electricity, which contributes to increasing pollution in the
ecosystem. So, using a renewable energy resource, such as solar energy as an
option for electric power generators is something which can’t be
overemphasized. The main purpose of this work is to study the feasibility of
using solar energy application in Koya city to generate electricity. The approach
used in this work is dependent mainly on statistical data and real life recorded
data; these data being recorded for a period of one year. The experimental and
analysis results show that a solar power generator system could be efficiently
used to generate electricity, which is required to provide the domestic load in
Koya city.
Keywords: solar energy, environmental pollution, electric power generator,
domestic load, photovoltaic system.
1 Introduction
Energy does not only play an important role in our everyday living life, but also
has an essential role in the development of industry, agriculture, medicine and all
fields of human activities. There is increasing demand for electricity in Kurdistan
Region (KR), due to the rapid increase in population, rising standards of living,
and the immigration from other cities in Iraq to the KR due to security concern.
The energy sources that are used for electricity production in KR are fossil fuels
such as oil and natural gas – are known as non-renewable resources. Burning the
fossil fuels can change the planet’s climate and harm ecosystems, through
© 2013 WIT Press
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doi:10.2495/ISUD130181
152 First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
gaseous emissions. However, using renewable and unconventional energy power
sources will help to control, replace and avoid adverse environmental
impacts [1].
Solar energy is an inexhaustible resource. The sun produces vast amounts of
renewable solar energy that can be collected and converted into heat and
electricity.
The importance of solar energy is outlined in the following points [2, 3]:
1. Solar energy is safe.
2. Clean and quiet to operate.
3. Solar energy requires less maintenance.
4. Provides powers independence on public electricity.
5. Solar energy is renewable and free.
The solar energy system is flexible and can be expanded without changing the
original design to meet increasing electricity needs. The study area is Koya city,
Koya is one of the oldest districts of Iraq since Othman era, the last Iraqi regime
tried to destroy Koya and about 120 villages were removed and destroyed
through the Anfal campaigns in the 80s of the last century.
Koya city is geographically located in the heart of Kurdistan of Iraq. The city
is located in the north of Iraq, at 630m above sea level. The total area is about
2051 km². The city is considered as a bridge connects the governorates of Erbil,
Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, with each other. This strategic location has enabled
the city to prosper and become one of the centers of commerce, education and
culture in Kurdistan. Koya city faced the same problems that which arise in
Kurdistan for instance the demand for electricity and environmental degradation.
The power generation is yet another problem especially the use of many
thousands of small private power generators all across the cities. This in turn
generates sound pollution.
Therefore, in this work we proposed the use of solar energy to generate
electricity for domestic load in the Koya city to decrease the environmental
degradation and to supply free energy to substitute the demand in electricity. In
this work a real life application is presented and the impact on Koya city is
studied.
2 The nature of the problems
Koya district shared the problems with Kurdistan region and global problems
that deal with lack in electricity, environmental degradation, and economic
issues, the three parts are described below.
2.1 Environmental issues
The problems of Kurdistan environment are part of the global problem,
especially those related to global warming. A large percentage of forest area in
the region has decreased, with increase of the negative effect of fossil fuel
combustion. Electricity generators, automobiles, ovens, are continuing causes of
environmental destruction in the Kurdistan environment [4]. Kurdistan region
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First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
153
Carbon Dioxide Emission from 2003–2008 are 25–30 Million m3 Tons which
presents the increasing in pollutant gases in Kurdistan region [5]. One of the
signs about the pollution in Kurdistan environment is the existence of the black
pollutants cloud that is sometimes over the city (Hawler). These pollutants are
causing medical concern for the population in the city, this is due to the lack of
rules, legislations and policies protect the environment of Kurdistan [6].
Although, there is no industry in Kurdistan, the huge number of power
generators that are producing electricity and high number of cars, are
contributing to high concentration of CO2 and causing greenhouse effect in the
city [6]. Koya city as a part of Kurdistan/Erbil contributes to the air pollution and
acid rain with adverse effect on soil and plants. From Fig. 1, it is clear that the
region has depended on fossil fuel to generate electricity with a small percentage
using renewable energy.
Figure 1:
The percentage of fossil fuel with respect to non-conventional
forms of energy [3].
2.2 Electricity demand issue
Due to an increase in stability in the area and immigration from rural area and
from the south of Iraq, the KR has experienced rapid increases in electricity
demand. The electricity system in the Koya city requires rehabilitation,
reinforcement and development in order to provide adequate and reliable power
to the existing consumers and to cater for the connection of new consumers. The
existing master plan for the electricity which done by the Ministry of Electricity
(MoE) are not satisfied the demand in the region, Koya city as a part of
Kurdistan share this shortage in electricity.” Iraqis went on a buying spree of
consumer products, and still have large subsidies so power usage went up just as
fast” [7]. For instance, table 1 shows the existing and planned generators.
2.3 Economic issues
Nobody can deny that the importance of the energy sector in economic growth,
without energy it will be difficult to achieve the development process, therefore,
the role of renewable energy play an essential role in the energy sector. In Koya
city the electric consumers are divided into five category commercial, industrial,
agriculture, governmental, and domestic (as shown in Fig. 2).
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154 First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
Table 1:
Years
Existing power
plants*
Projected demand
load*
Shortage power*
*
The lack of electricity in the Kurdistan region [3].
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
1850
2050
2250
2450
2650
2650
2850
1986
2204
2446
2642
2774
2913
3059
-136
-154
-196
-192
-124
-263
-209
All values in Megawatt (MW).
Figure 2:
Consumption power by sectors of Koya city [4].
The consumed electric power is dominated by the domestic load which is
75% of the total consumption of energy in the city. For instance, in 2009, the
consumed power for domestic load is 16.3 MW/h and the net cost of this power
is 81.2 million Iraqi Diners (ID) per month [3].
3 Electric energy situation in Koya city
3.1 Electricity consumption
The statistical data from MoE presents that in Koya city the electricity demand
sector is dominated by domestic consumers. Table 2 shows the percentage of
consumers and category in Koya city starting from 2007 to 2009.
As was mentioned above, the market for electricity is dominated by the
domestic customers. It has been mentioned that many domestic consumers’ use
of energy is not metered and the actual figures above are on a (severely
suppressed) replacement with (conservative estimates) basis. In particular, they
exclude supplies from self-generation and private contractors.
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First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
Table 2:
Years Domestic
87%
2007
88%
2008
88%
2009
155
Category and percent of consumers in Koya [3].
Commercial
10%
10%
9%
Industrial
1%
1%
1%
Agriculture
0%
0%
0%
Governmental
2%
1%
2%
3.2 Private generators
The private generators were proposed by MoE KRG, as a fast solution for
increasing power demand and covering the shortage of electricity in the region.
In Koya city there are 32 private generators distributed in the neighborhoods and
there are 12,489 consumers in private power generators, the amount of sharing
current are varying from 1–5 Ampere/month (as shown in Fig. 3). From this
figure it is clear that 50% of consumers are requiring 2A and 43% are using 3A.
The numbers of consumers requiring 4–5 Ampere are very small (approximately
1%); the majority of those consumers are government and commercial sectors.
Figure 3:
The private generator consumers in Koya city [3].
4 The proposed solution
Every change begins with a vision and a decision to take an action, our vision is
using solar energy to generate electricity in the Koya city for domestic load
which represents 75% of the total consumption of power in the city. Our
proposed system composed of a photovoltaic (PV) system (SM-36 manufactured
by Siemens) to generate electricity by using a real life database which recorded
by [3]. The data of PV system were taken during a one year period three to four
times per week, and twelve to thirteen times per month. These data, composed of
current, voltage, and power, were recorded in the study area. These data can be
used to validate the potential of use a PV system to generate electricity in Koya
city. The proposed system is supply 3A/h which covered 95% of private electric
consumers from private generators. Table 3 shows that the required PV modules
numbers and area required to supply 1, 2, and 3 amperes.
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156 First International Symposium on Urban Development: Koya as a Case Study
Table 3:
The required current and corresponding PV’s Number.
Required
current (I)
1
Power
(KW)
0.198
Area of PV
Module(m2)
10
Number of PV
Module
20
2
0.396
20
40
3
1.198
30
60
For economic purposes, we proposed solar system sized so that it can provide
1 KW of power for 6 hours per day. From the local market the price of PV
calculates as $3.5/W, and the operation life of a PV system (24 yrs), and for
batteries the price is $280 for 500 A/h (8 year life) the system required three
batteries, wires and inverter and installation $500. The fixed cost for 1KW for
24yrs =$4,840.
Tcost= Total PV cost + Cost of Batteries + fixed cost (inverter +installation cost)
Tcost = $ 3.5/W * 1000 W/h + $280*3 +$500
Tcost = $ 4840/h (Total cost for 24yrs)
5 Impact of proposed system on Koya city
The impact of the use of solar energy in Koya city has been divided into three
fields. The first field is environmental impact where the pollutant gases, sound
pollution, and visual pollution are decreased in Koya city, which were produced
by a huge number of private generators. Second field is economic impact where
the solar energy could be considered as a free energy used to replace the private
generator fee, where the Ministry of Electricity charging citizens the cost of
electricity, which increases the economic load that affected the poor section of
society in Koya city.
The third field is electricity demand; the proposed electric solar generator
system provides electricity for the city and rural area, which improve the life
standard in Koya city.
6 Conclusion
A real life application is presented in this work, this work is ongoing research in
order to replace the depended on fossil fuels with solar energy. From the results
it’s clear that the study area consider rich of solar radiation, and have a good
potential for electric power generator application. PV system has high capital
costs and lower operating costs, the cost of the PV system will be divided into
two parts, the initial investment and operating costs, from the results the cost of
1KWh is equal to $12/month for 24 yrs. The number of PV panels depended on
the power demand, and the biggest concern with solar technologies is land use.
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References
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[3] Alkalefa, Sh., Abbas, H. Spatial Planning of Solar Energy Resource by
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[4] Ministry of Electricity KRG. Statistical Report, Retrieved August 29, 2013,
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[5] US Information Administration. CO2 emissions worldwide. Retrieved June
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